CAF Utah Wing Museum facts for kids
Commemorative Air Force Utah Wing Museum
|
|
| Location | P.O. Box 507 2365 Airport Road Russ McDonald Field Heber City, Utah 84032 |
|---|---|
| Type | Aviation museum |
The CAF Utah Wing Museum is a cool place to learn about old airplanes! It's part of a bigger group called the Commemorative Air Force (CAF). This group is all about remembering American military planes and the brave people who flew them. They do this by flying old planes, showing them in museums, and telling their stories.
You can find the museum at Russ McDonald Field in Utah. Inside, you'll see amazing things from World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. The museum also has real, working airplanes! They have a Stearman and two T-6 Texan planes. These are just a few of the over 170 old military planes the CAF owns. Guess what? You can even go for a ride in some of them! The museum also shares stories of local heroes who were part of aviation history.
The museum is usually closed from October 31st to May 1st each year. But you might be able to visit by special arrangement during that time.
Contents
Amazing Airplanes You Can See Fly
The Stearman: A Training Plane from the 1940s
One of the special planes at the museum is an N2S-5 Boeing-Stearman Model 75. Its tail number is N1387V. This plane was built way back in 1943 in Kansas. The U.S. Government bought it for the Navy to train pilots in Texas during World War II.
After the war, the plane was sold. It was changed to have a bigger engine and used for spraying crops. Later, in the 1980s, it became a plane for fun and sports. It crashed in the Oquirrh Mountains while flying to California. The Commemorative Air Force bought the plane's parts. After a lot of hard work to fix it up, N1387V flew again in 1988!
Since then, this Stearman has been part of the Utah Wing. You can often see it at local airshows. It also offers rides to people who want to experience flying in a historic plane. In 2015, the plane's wings got a big makeover. New fabric and paint made it look great. Then, in 2016, even more restoration work started on other parts of the plane.
The T-6 Texan: Advanced Training for WWII Pilots
The museum also has two Texan trainer planes. You can even go for rides in these too! The Texan was a very important plane during World War II. It was used to teach pilots advanced flying skills. This included how to fly in formation, how to shoot guns from the plane, and how to use tactics in the air. It helped turn new pilots into skilled combat flyers.
Local Aviation Heroes
The museum has special exhibits that tell the stories of people from the local area who made a big difference in aviation. Here are some of them:
- Emmett "Cyclone" Davis: He was a fighter pilot. He was at Pearl Harbor when it was attacked by Japan. Later, he led a fighter squadron in the Pacific during the war.
- Ike Isaacs: He was a pilot who flew the famous B-17 bomber.
- Russ McDonald: He was the person who started the Heber City, Utah airport. The airport is even named after him!
- Tom Vetter: He became a commercial pilot for Delta Air Lines.
- Burnis Watts: He was a pilot who flew Waco CG-4 gliders. These gliders were used in very important missions during World War II. He was part of the Invasion of Normandy, the Holland Invasion, and the Crossing of the Rhine River.
- Jackson Wells: He also flew the B-17 bomber. He was part of the Eighth Air Force and flew missions over Germany during the war.
See also
- List of aerospace museums
